To celebrate the farmers in Ghana for their hardworking and enormous contribution towards growth and development of the country, the 36th National level Farmer’s Day was held at Techiman the capital of Bono East Region on Friday 6th November, 2020 to show gratitude to famers for their sacrifice. The various Municipalities and Districts in the country also held theirs to honour the farmers at their locality. The Bosomtwe District held its Farmers’ Day celebration at Sawuah on that same date to honour and award its hardworking farmers in the district.
The theme for the year’s celebration was “Ensuring Agribusiness Development in COVID 19 challenges and opportunities”. The Chairman for the occasion was Nana Kwaku Amankwa Sarkodie II (Chief of Sawuah) and supported by Nana Baffour Amaoateng (Chief of Jachie), Nana Agyei Panyin ii (Chief of Deduako) and others. Again, some of the dignitaries presents were Joseph Akwasi Asuming (D. C. E. for Bosomtwe District), Mr. Addai Aikins (Bosomtwe Constituency NPP Chairman), Bosomtwe District Police Commander, Chief Fire Commander, Bosomtwe District, Madam Agartha Ahia (District Coordinating Director), Mr. Eric Fofie (Bosomtwe District Agric Director), the staff of the Assembly and the Agric directorate, The Chief farmer and his members in the farmers at the district.
Mr. Eric Fofie, the Bosomtwe District Agric Director in his submission congratulated all the farmers for a wonderful work done especially amidst the COVID 19 pandemic prevalence. He continued that COVID 19 pandemic has really testified that Ghana has improved in its agriculture. This is because, there were enough food to feed the populace without relying on importation of food and farmers were still working even during the Lockdown period. He attributed all these improvements to the government initiatives like Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), One District One Factory, Modernized Agriculture and others. This year alone one thousand five hundred and nineteen (1519) direct beneficiaries benefitted from the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative. They were provided with subsidized fertilizer and seedlings. About twelve thousand, three hundred and seventy- eight (12378) bags of fertilizer and Eight hundred and ninety (890) bags of rice and maize seedlings were given to farmers for planting. He subsequently commended the staff and also extension officers for their good works and advice to farmers. The District Assembly was also commended for the introduction of the Market days in the various towns for the farmers to sell their produce and appealed to the assembly to build markets at the district. He cautioned the farmers to stop bush burning and to invest in their farms.
Mr. Fred, the District Cocoa Cartographer added that the Cocoa Extension Officers have increased from 6 to 30 which will help in protecting crops. He continued that, the government has introduced a digitized weighing scale which is to be used in weighing the beans and will protect the farmers from exploitation. Again, Cocoa Management System has been introduced to take data of all farmers. He urged them to form co-operatives to work together. This will help them get assistance easily from the government.
Mr. Joseph Kwasi Asuming, the D. C. E. of Bosomtwe District congratulated the farmers for the good work done and also showed gratitude to the Bosomtwe Rural Bank and Vester Oil Company for sponsoring the farmer’s day at the district. He continued that with PERD programme the Assembly has distributed 37000 oil plants to the farmers during the year and about 20000 seedlings are under nursing. He appealed to the chiefs to always allocate farm lands when coming out with layout in their communities. Again he called for peaceful election come December 7, 2020 and urged members to go out and vote massively to maintain the NPP government to continue with their good works.
The District Fire Commander said, it is the mandate of the Fire Service to prevent fire outbreak instead of controlling. During the fire calendar, the district experienced three (3) fire outbreaks and thirty- seven (37) acres of land were destroyed and seven (7) farmers were affected. Farmers were advised not to send fire to their farms. He commended the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe Constituency for providing them with motor bikes to embark on education on fire preventives measures at the various communities. He again appealed to contractors to consult Fire Service to install fire safety measures in the buildings.
Nana Kwaku Amankwa Sarkodie II, the chief of Sawuah in his closing remarks commended all the farmers for ensuring that we always get food to eat. He asked the politicians in the various political parties to ensure that we have peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the election.
On the whole, twenty- three (23) farmers received awards for their immensely contribution to the development of agriculture in the District. At the end, Mr. Vincent Asante from Worakose emerge as the Best Farmer in Bosomtwe District, followed by Patrick Yaro the 1st Runner-up from Jachie and then Dominic Gyimah the 2nd Runner-up from Sewuah.
